Tour #3: Laguna San Ignacio

Hello whalewatchers,
Another fantastic day in Laguna San Ignacio! We started our day with a cow and calf visiting the Searcher at 4 am and staying for three hours. (The captain on early morning watch liked this!) We started earlier with a trip out in the pangas at 7 am and everyone had a close encounter with multiple whales around the pangas.
We offered a mangrove trip on the high tide for our second trip and we sent two pangas there and 1 panga out whalewatching. We had a break for lunch and then another trip to visit the whales. Our last trip we sent one panga to the beach and two pangas out for whales. The beach group located a whale carcass that had  to be uncovered by the strong north wind a few days ago so a few of us had a look at the carcass. Next trip it might be more visible.
All in all, it was a wonderful visit to this magical place. It is hard to leave Laguna San Ignacio. The crew and I are blessed that we get to come back in a couple of weeks.
The weather has been great for both days and the forecast looks great for the next day or two.
Looking forward to looking offshore tomorrow.
Capt Art

2012-03-13T07:49:35-07:00March 13th, 2012|Trip Reports, Uncategorized|

Tour #3: Laguna San Ignacio

Hello whalewatchers,
Laguna San Ignacio produced another marvelous day with great weather light winds. Oh and a gray whale or two! Everyone had a close encounter with multiple whales today. There are a lot of whales here as reported at the end of last week–over 300 whales and 81 cows with calves. Need I say more?
It is great to be here and experience the magic. We just can’t get enough of this place. Looking forward to a great sunset and lights out tonight with the whales and the stars.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

2012-03-11T21:53:48-07:00March 11th, 2012|Trip Reports|

Tour #3: Islas San Benito

Dear whalewatchers:
We had a great day at Islas San Benito. The weather was calm and sunny and warm. The island is still in bloom but a little drier. There are plenty of elephant seals with mostly weaners and a few molting females returning. The guadalupe fur seal colony on the north side of the island has increased in numbers from last trip so maybe they are returning in numbers to the island. Lots of California sea lionswere around as well. All the usual birds were seen.
Looking forward to tomorrow at Laguna San Ignacio.
Capt Art

2012-03-11T08:51:05-07:00March 11th, 2012|Trip Reports|

Tour #3: Ensenada and Islas Todos Santis

Dear whalwatchers:
We are on our third trip of the season and we have great weather outside Ensenada. In the harbor we had two bottlenose dolphin greet us while the officials cleared the boat–a nice way to start the day. Islas Todos Santos are green and we saw all the usual suspects at the island– 3 different pinnipeds, peregrine falcon, oystercatchers, several black-vented shearwaters and more before arriving. After leaving the island we immediately started seeing northbound gray whales and some long-beaked common dolphin. We travelled for a short while and came upon a group of 8 gray whales, so we spent some time with them and had great looks at gray whales.
Also on our sighting list for today: lots of shearwaters, alcids, a few black legged kiitiwakes and a laysan albatross for the bird watchers and a small baleen whale that gave us a quick look but not quite good enough to ID it –most likely a minke whale based on what we did see.
We are enjoying calm seas and a great sunset to end the day.
Looking forward to returning to Isla San Benito.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art

2012-03-11T08:47:34-07:00March 11th, 2012|Trip Reports|

Solar Activity

All passengers arrived and Tour #3 has departed under good weather. Our satellite communication from the boat is compromised due to the current solar activity. We will get updates and blog reports as soon as everything is resolved!

2020-07-15T16:35:19-07:00March 9th, 2012|News|

Tour #2: Isla Partida and Isla San Jose

Hello all,
We got a trip into he mangroves at Isla San Jose in order to get shelter from the wind that is forecast for the day today. Everyone enjoyed that and we headed south. We stopped at Ensenada Grande at Isla Partida where it was nice and calm,  so we went ashore there for a walk and a swim. We had our last night’s dinner and enjoyed sharing stories from the trip. All in all a great trip, with lots and lots of whales and great people.
Capt Art

2020-07-15T16:35:20-07:00March 4th, 2012|Trip Reports|

Tour #2: Sea of Cortez

Hello whalewatchers,
Today we started our day with no wind! We left our anchorage at daylight to go offshore and look for whales. We saw a fin whale first and kept going to get onto deep water with hopes of finding some toothed whales while the wind is down.
We came across four blue whales and there waa a cow and calf. We hung around with them for an hour or so and had some great looks at them. The cow was really large–at least 80 feet in length.
Since we were hoping for toothed whales, we headed south and came across an area of dwarf sperm whales. There were aof 8 whales in pairs and we had really good looks at them–some were within 50 yards. It is always great to see such a rare species. We are lucky to have the calm conditions to accomplish that.
We saw a few more blue whales as we traveled south to the upper end of the San Jose channel. We went into Bahia Tambobiche and put everyone ashore for a walk and everyone enjoyed that.  We did have great birding offshore today with both species of storm petrels, boobies, shearwaters, jeagers, and one south polar skua.
Headed south tonight to visit the mangroves at Isla San Jose in the morning and then off to Los Islotes to snorkel with the sea lions.
More tomororw,
Capt Art

2012-03-02T20:03:26-08:00March 2nd, 2012|Trip Reports|

Tour #2: Isla Santa Catalina

Hello whalewatchers,
We had a great day at Isla Santa Catalina. We had a snorkel session and a Krazy Koastal Kruise with Kapt Kenny and Kapt Kameron. After lunch we headed out and the wind diminished so we could work. We saw a blue whale that was very cooperative, diving for 8 or 9 minutes. We had great looks, with the peninsula in the background and the whale stayed at the surface for a couple of minutes. We stayed with it and for a finale, it fluked right off the bow.
We continued on and found a fin whale north of Bahia Agua Verde at sunset. The sunset was fantastic.  We are going to anchor at Isla Monserrate tonight and then whalewatch with good weather tomorrow.
Capt Art

2012-03-02T06:28:20-08:00March 2nd, 2012|Trip Reports|

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